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Ironically almost every religious cult has “don’t be a jerk to people different than you” as one of it's highest precepts. Cults operate differently - it's not

Ironically almost every religious cult has “don’t be a jerk to people different than you” as one of it's highest precepts. Cults operate differently - it's not what they believe, it's how they behave in the world. Not saying wokeism is a cult at all, but that religious cults often have Good Well Intentions. Precepts don't make a cult. (A healthy religion encourages love and tolerance to those in the outgroup e.g "love your enemy") But it's good that "people different than you" is mentioned when it comes to cults, but it's the other way around. The group is often labelled as different before it's labelled as a cult. One way to quickly determine if something is a cult or not is if they have isolated themselves from the world, or if it's just those outside people saying "they are different from us". Conspiracy theories are quite common in cults as it's one way for people to define an us/them idea which isolates the in group. In wokeism the theory could be that the outgroup is a conspiracy of crypto-fascist white supremacists. In trumpism the theory could be that the outgroup is a conspiracy of cultural marxist disruptors.

freen 5y ago
They aren’t very well hidden: they proudly wave the flag of traitorous slavers. Confederate history month still exists in a bunch of states. Have you seen the nazi flags at trump rallies? Jan 6th?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- thinkingemote 5y ago
  Almost every group has a theory about the people who are different than them. Sometimes the theory is based on some truths, but it's a theory, and a theory cannot represent the whole truth. Often conspiracy theories as a whole are simplified explanations of reality. There may well be based on actual evidence. They are perversely comforting to hold. To know you are in a chosen group who really knows whats going on, that there is a clearly defined enemy that can be hated... That is psychologically comforting compared to not knowing whats going on in life. It's why every political group will define their enemy. It is more scary to not know why the world is what it is. Imagine a world of today where no one is responsible for the state of it! Conspiracy theories in cults increase in-group cohesion and decrease tolerance to those different from the group as those outside the group are often part of the conspiracy. Conspiracy theories are mostly a pattern such as "we see these clear signs and occurrences in the world, therefore people in power are in a secret conspiracy to take over the world to bring in a hell on earth". Conspiracy theories are encompassing explanations of reality too. They can explain missing facts, they can explain alternative explanations, they provide a narrative to unknowns, contradictory facts and evidence can be used to show how the conspiracy is working. It's very hard to see whether one is within the spell of a cult or a conspiracy theory when one is in the middle of one. The best way to crack a cult member is to get them to see their in group / out group behaviour from the outside. So, "Why are you are jerk to people different than you?" is actually a really good question!
  - avs733 5y ago
    the idea that we as individual aren't capable of and responsible for evaluating knowledge claims is silly. The increasing use of that idea to deny the obvious is troubling and not something that that should be celebrated.

freen 5y ago

They aren’t very well hidden: they proudly wave the flag of traitorous slavers. Confederate history month still exists in a bunch of states. Have you seen the nazi flags at trump rallies? Jan 6th?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
thinkingemote 5y ago
Almost every group has a theory about the people who are different than them. Sometimes the theory is based on some truths, but it's a theory, and a theory cannot represent the whole truth. Often conspiracy theories as a whole are simplified explanations of reality. There may well be based on actual evidence. They are perversely comforting to hold. To know you are in a chosen group who really knows whats going on, that there is a clearly defined enemy that can be hated... That is psychologically comforting compared to not knowing whats going on in life. It's why every political group will define their enemy. It is more scary to not know why the world is what it is. Imagine a world of today where no one is responsible for the state of it! Conspiracy theories in cults increase in-group cohesion and decrease tolerance to those different from the group as those outside the group are often part of the conspiracy. Conspiracy theories are mostly a pattern such as "we see these clear signs and occurrences in the world, therefore people in power are in a secret conspiracy to take over the world to bring in a hell on earth". Conspiracy theories are encompassing explanations of reality too. They can explain missing facts, they can explain alternative explanations, they provide a narrative to unknowns, contradictory facts and evidence can be used to show how the conspiracy is working. It's very hard to see whether one is within the spell of a cult or a conspiracy theory when one is in the middle of one. The best way to crack a cult member is to get them to see their in group / out group behaviour from the outside. So, "Why are you are jerk to people different than you?" is actually a really good question!
- avs733 5y ago
  the idea that we as individual aren't capable of and responsible for evaluating knowledge claims is silly. The increasing use of that idea to deny the obvious is troubling and not something that that should be celebrated.